A massive chunk of Canadians believe scientific research is paramount to the strength of the country's economy, a new survey has found.

Results of an Abacus Data poll released Tuesday suggests 78 per cent of respondents believe Canada must boost funding for scientific research and work to "attract this kind of investment from around the world.”

The gap narrows

Twenty-two per cent disagreed, believing “research doesn’t do much for our economy," according to Abacus. This segment also believes the country is better off spending its cash on other things.

Abacus also asked the 2,000 online survey participants to give their thoughts on STEM (Science, technology, engineering and math) studies in Canada.

Fifty-nine per cent said the country should make a greater effort to attract young people to these fields, while 41 per cent think “other skills are just as important or more important."

“Canadians know that the global economy is undergoing a transition and that future competitiveness for Canada will require change on our part — and probably constant change," wrote Abacus' Bruce Anderson in a release.

A baby weasel took the ride of a lifetime on the back of a green woodpecker in Hornchurch Country Park in East London. Photographer Martin Le-May just happened to be lucky enough to capture the moment on March 2, 2015.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope assembled a comprehensive picture of the evolving universe -- among the most colorful deep space images ever captured by the 25-year-old telescope. The image was released on June 3, 2014.

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins snapped a selfie while completing a spacewalk outside of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station on Dec. 24, 2013.

A rare Mascarene petrel with an egg-shaped bulge in its middle. Photographed in 2012 by researchers near Reunion, an island off the coast of Madagascar, it was said to be the first to show a bird flying with a visible "baby bump."

In 2011, a female Celebes crested macaque (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, decided to pick up British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera and take a selfie.

A stunning scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor, taken on May 24, 2010.

An electron microscope photograph shows self-assembling hair-like polymers around a polystyrene sphere, about two micrometers in diameter. It won first place in the National Science Foundation's 2009 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.

Hurricane Ike covers more than half of Cuba. It was taken by the Expedition 17 crew aboard the International Space Station from a vantage point of 220 miles above Earth, on September 9, 2008.

A close-up look at a double transgenic mouse embryo, just 18.5 days old. The photo won first place in Nikon's 2007 Small World Photomicrography Competition.

A photo of the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle Atlantis flying between Earth and the sun. The photo was taken from Normandie, France on Sept. 17, 2006.

A portrait of a Muscoid fly (house fly) that won first place in Nikon's 2005 Small World Photomicrography Competition.